Terminology BCG opposed to other firms

Hi there,

I agree with Avinash here. It is totally expected that you apply to different firms and, in general, you do not have to learn a specific firm's language to be successful!

That being said, you should nonetheless show cultural sensitivity - essentially, the same type of awareness about company-specific terms and competition-specific terms that you would be expected to show in a client dialogue.

Where does that apply?

With the MBB companies, each may use different terms for (non-exhaustive):

1. Hierarchical ranks 
   (example: BCG PL - Bain Manager - McK EM)
2. Company-related policies such as educational and flexible leaves or internship formats ("VA-ship", “Climateship”, …)

The terms for 2. are often included in the promotional material provided by the firms, while you can readily research the terms for 1. online before the interview.

You do not need to know any of this. However, if you proactively decide to use such elements in your fit answers or questions to the interviewer (e.g., “I would in that situation ask my Manager…”, “I wondered about your experience in your FlexLeave doing…") it makes a professional and good impression to use the right terms.

Hope that helps!

Best,

Gero

Hey! 

I'm not sure where you heard about this but I really don't agree. 

At the end of the day, every interviewer is a human being. Human beings are just that, so every interviewer will act differently. It may be that there are a handful of interviewers out there for whom this statement is true. However, in my career I have met hundreds of MBB interviewers and I believe the overwhelming majority of them know you are applying to all MBB firms and expect you to do just that. In fact, when most of them were at your stage, they also applied to all three firms.

Hope this helps!

Hi there,

This isn't really a thing. I can't think of any Mck/BCG specific thing, other than say, the BCG Matrix or Associate/Engagement Manager versus Consultant/Project Lead (which, of course, you should always know your role).

I would not stress/focus energy on this!

Some real Dos/Donts:

Dos and Don'ts in a Case Interview

Hi there,

I would be happy to share my thoughts on your question:

• First of all, I wonder why this would even be any issue, except for the rare case that you worked for the one consulting firm for a long time and then transitioned to the other - and in that case, most likely nobody would care if you would use different terms. As such, please do not worry about this.
• Moreover, I would highly advise you to just use neutral terms, e.g. saying “project” instead of “engagement” or “case study”, and you will not face any issues either way.

If you would like a more detailed discussion on how to best prepare for your upcoming interviews, please don't hesitate to contact me directly.

Best,

Hagen

You can find the salary report of consulting firms in Germany here!

Please don't worry about this sort of stuff.

Nobody is going to reject you if you say Business Analyst instead of Associate, for instance. 

Just make sure that you research the role that you're applying for and know what it's called, but nobody is going to turn you down for insignificant things. 

If you want an overview of the most common terms that pop up in interviews, you might find the following list useful:

• Expert Guide: The Must-Know Consulting Terms for Interviews

Good luck!
Cristian

Hi there,

Interviews are complex enough to also try to cover this dimension on specific language.

There is no such dimension on the interview scoring to measure “using McKinsey language” so focus on nailing the fit and case part to secure the offer!

Best,

Alberto

—

Check out my latest case based on a real MBB interview: Sierra Springs

Hi there,

Focus on the things that matter to interviewers instead of overthinking terminology. Fully agree with the others here! :-)

As a firm outsider, you would not even know the common team room phrases and terminology for each firm. No interviewer would see it badly if you use some McKinsey slang in a BCG interview.

All the best,

Florian

Hi there,

I would at least familiar with the rankings as well what is specific for each consulting → this shows that you did research about the firm you interview with. But I would not be stressed out about the specific language. If you by default say something really McKinsey, you can turn it into joke that all that names drives you crazy… no worry, if you do well, this wont cripple you AT ALL.

All the best,

Lucie

Hi,

I think there are only 2 faux pas that you could make in the interview:

1. Referring to the wrong firm name
   • i.e. saying BCG instead of Bain (Yes, I have witnessed this before)
2. Using wrong terminology for positions
   • E.g. EM vs PL

Neither of this are ‘deal breakers’ IMHO, but definitely do not help to create a positive impression of you in terms of ability to deal with stress, attention to detail etc.

What's infinitely more important is your performance on the case interview which is testing your problem solving abilities. This is firm agnostic.

All the best!

Hey,

Usually a non-issue, though I agree with the other coaches that you should, ideally, use proper position names (PL instead of EM etc.) and be generally aware of the company's culture.

Hope this helps,
Nick

The only “no-go” is using the rank names or specific groups (e.g. PIPE) of one company when interviewing with another one. 

Simply because it shows you didn't do your homework, or didn't do it well.

Other than this, everything is fine, I don't even think they use different terminologies.